On April 1, California Gov. Jerry Brown took bold action in response to the harsh water reality facing California. His unprecedented emergency order required a suite of sweeping actions designed to cut urban water use by 25 percent statewide. Combined with already drastic cutbacks to agricultural water-users, the hope is that the emergency order can help California survive this dire water year.

Many of us don’t think about the water we use every day. We count on it being there to cook, shower, clean clothes, water crops, provide energy, power our economies, support recreation, and nourish the plants and animals that depend on it. But all we have to do is look west to California to see the consequences of extended drought on our quality of life, economies and wildlife.

The Colorado River is the lifeblood of the Southwest, with more than 36 million people depending on the river and about half of Front Range’s water coming from the river.

Compared to California, things are better in the Colorado River Basin. However, after 15 years of drought, Lake Powell and Lake Mead are both below 45 percent full with basinwide snowpack below 70 percent as of April 1. Are the farms, businesses and communities that depend on water from the Colorado River Basin due for the same types of emergency orders? Not yet, but if we wait until a full-fledged emergency is upon us, agriculture and our environment will be the biggest losers.

Opportunities to get ahead of a crisis in the Colorado River Basin exist. For example, water banking, designed to sustain agriculture while providing flexibility and reliability, is a solution that has been tested in other locations and is already being used in the Lower Basin. There is also room for additional urban and agricultural efficiencies. While we’re seeing some success, more leadership and funding are needed. Status quo is not an option.

In 2012, the U.S Bureau of Reclamation completed a first-of-its kind study to understand the future of water in the Southwest. The lesson: If we don’t make drastic changes by 2060, we will be facing a serious and significant gap between supply and demands. The dramatic situation playing out in California should be a reminder that we need to accelerate our development of solutions and contingency plans.

In the coming weeks, the Bureau of Reclamation will be releasing its Moving Forward report — a follow up to the 2012 study — regarding solutions for the Colorado River Basin. The report doesn’t have all the answers, but highlights many promising solutions and can serve as a foundation to build a more resilient, flexible water management framework that will help us adapt to a drier, more variable future.

Finally, while water rights are a matter of state law, there is an important role for the federal government in helping avoid both short-term crisis and long-term problems in the Colorado River Basin. In the short term, there are many federal projects where flexibility to accommodate appropriate water banking will be vital. The federal government can also assist with financial support for irrigation infrastructure improvements, cooperative conservation programs and demonstration of innovative technologies. Likewise, state governments can do the same. To truly address these issues, we will need to have public and private entities working together.

We can avoid water management by emergency order in the Colorado River Basin. Ensuring water reliability for people and the environment will take resources, candid discussion, partnerships and breaking from overly restrictive approaches to water management. It’s a classic case of an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure. We need to make our policies more flexible, invest in conservation, and remember that ultimately, we are all in this together.

Taylor Hawes is Colorado River Program Director for The Nature Conservancy.

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